FP7 IDEAS Programme
European Research Council
The European Research Council
ERC Calls 2007 – 2011:
An overview with focus on international participation
Brussels, May 2012
E. Toma
ERC EA Unit A1 Support to the Scientific Council
European Research Council
What is ERC?
• Part of the 7th EU Research Framework Programme
• Frontier research projects
• Excellence as the only valid criterion
• No predetermined subjects (bottom-up); all science fields
• Support for the individual scientist
• International peer-review
• Open to researchers from anywhere in the world
willing to do research in Europe
│2
European Research Council
ERC Structure
The European Commission
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Provides financing through the EU framework programmes
Guarantees autonomy of the ERC
Assures the integrity and accountability of the ERC
Adopts annual work programmes as established by
the Scientific Council
The Scientific Council
•
22 prominent researchers proposed by an independent
•
•
Appointed by the Commission (4 years, renewable once)
Establishes overall scientific strategy; annual work programmes
identification committee
(incl. calls for proposals, evaluation criteria); peer review methodology;
selection and accreditation of experts
•
•
Controls quality of operations and management
Ensures communication with the scientific community
The ERC Agency
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•
•
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•
•
Executes annual work programme as established by the Scientific Council
Implements calls for proposals and provides information and support to applicants
Organises peer review evaluation
Establishes and manages grant agreements
Administers scientific and financial aspects and follow-up of grant agreements
Carries out communications activities and ensures information dissemination
to ERC stakeholders
European Research Council
ERC Scientific Council Members
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Prof. Claudio BORDIGNON (Medicine)
Prof. Nicholas CANNY, (History)
Prof. Don Dingwell
Prof. Sierd A.P.L. CLOETINGH (Earth Sciences)
ERC Secretary General
Prof. Mathias DEWATRIPONT (Economics)
Prof. Tomasz DIETL (Physics)
Prof. Daniel DOLEV (Computer Sciences)
Prof. Carlos M. DUARTE (Biology)
Prof. Daniel ESTEVE (Physics)
Prof. Pavel EXNER (Applied Mathematics & Mathematical Physics), ERC Vice President
Prof. Hans-Joachim FREUND (Physics & Physical Chemistry)
Prof. Carl-Henrik HELDIN (Molecular Cell Biology), ERC Vice President
Prof. Timothy HUNT (Biology)
Prof. Norbert KROO (Physics)
Prof. Maria Teresa LAGO (Astrophysics)
Prof. Henrietta L. MOORE (Social Anthropology)
Prof. Helga NOWOTNY (Science and Technology Studies), ERC President
Prof. Christiane NÜSSLEIN-VOLHARD (Genetics)
Prof. Alain PEYRAUBE (Linguistics)
Dr. Jens ROSTRUP-NIELSEN (Chemistry)
Prof. Mart SAARMA (Biology)
Prof. Anna TRAMONTANO (Biochemistry)
Prof. Isabelle VERNOS (Molecular and Cell Biology)
European Research Council
FP7 budget € 50.5 billion
ERC budget € 7.5 billion; Increase by € 250 M/year
People
(9 %)
Ideas
(15 %)
Co-operation
(65 %)
1800
23.4%
21.6%
1500
1200
17.8%
900
15.1%
600
10.8%
7.3%
300
4%
0
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Million Euro
JRC nonnuclear (3 %)
Capacities
(8 %)
European Research Council
After 5 years of existence…
A success story
¾ Highly recognised by the research community
¾ ~2 600 top researchers funded (58% are at early-career
stage); 53 nationalities represented
¾ Working in >480 different institutions in 26 countries
¾ Highly competitive (average success rate 12%)
¾ 50% of grantees in 50 institutions; “Excellence attracts
excellence”
¾ Benchmarking effect, e.g. pan-European competition
among researchers; EU value added
¾ Efficient and fast grant management
│6
European Research Council
ERC Granting schemes
Starting Grants
starters (2-7 years after PhD)
consolidators (7-12 years after Phd) up to € 2.0 Mio for 5 years
Advanced Grants
track-record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years
up to € 3.5 Mio for 5 years
Synergy Grants
2 – 4 Principal Investigators
up to € 15.0 Mio for 6 years
Proof-of-Concept
bridging gap between research - earliest
stage of marketable innovation
up to €150,000 for ERC grant holders
European Research Council
Creative freedom of the individual grantee
ERC offers independence, recognition & visibility
•
to work on a research topic of own choice, with a team of own choice
•
to gain true financial autonomy for 5 years
•
to negotiate with the host institution the best conditions of work
•
to attract top team members (EU and non-EU) and collaborators
•
to move with the grant to any place in Europe if necessary (portability
of grants)
•
to attract additional funding and gain recognition; ERC is a quality
label
│8
European Research Council
25 panels for all areas of science
Physical
Sciences
&
Engineering
10 panels
Life
Sciences
9 panels
Mathematics
Fundamental constituents of matter
Condensed matter physics
Physical and analytical chemical sciences
Synthetic chemistry and materials
Computer science and informatics
Systems and communication engineering
Products and processes engineering
Universe sciences
Earth system science
Social Sciences & Humanities
6 panels
Individuals, institutions and markets
Institutions, values, beliefs and
behaviour
Environment, space and population
The Human Mind
Cultures and cultural production
The study of the human past
Molecular and structural biology and biochemistry
Genetics, genomics, bioinformatics and systems biology
Cellular and developmental biology
Physiology, pathophysiology and endocrinology
Neurosciences and neural disorders
Immunity and infection
Diagnostic tools, therapies and public health
Evolutionary, population and environmental biology
Applied life sciences and biotechnology
European Research Council
ERC Competitions 2007-2011
Total number of
applications
received
of which
Evaluated*
Funded
success rates**
Starting Grant 2007
9,167
8,787
299
3.4
Starting Grant 2009
2,503
2,392
245
10.2
Starting Grant 2010
2,873
2,767
436
15.8
Starting Grant 2011
4,080
4,005
487
12.2
18,623
17,951
1,467
10.4
Advanced Grant 2008
2,167
2,034
282
13.9
Advanced Grant 2009
1,583
1,526
245
16.1
Advanced Grant 2010
2,009
1,967
271
13.8
Advanced Grant 2011***
2,284
2,245
301
13.4
8,043
7,772
1,099
14.3
Proof of Concept 2011 - 1
78
73
29
39.7
Proof of Concept 2011 - 2***
73
66
22
33.3
151
139
51
36.5
Starting Grant
Advanced Grant
Proof of Concept
* withdrawn and ineligible proposals not taken into account
** percentage of funded proposals in relation to evaluated proposals
*** selected
Data as of 03/05/2012
│ 10
European Research Council
Two main ERC grant schemes
Advanced Grant
Starting Grant
•
•
•
Attract/retain next-generation leaders
(2-12 years after PhD)
•
Up to € 2 Million for 5 years
Attract/retain current world-leaders
Up to € 3.5 Million for 5 years
€ 1 Million ‘set up’ funds for those
moving from overseas
€ 500 000 ‘set up’ funds for those
moving from overseas
60
Number of Grantees
50
40
30
20
10
0
25
27
29
31
33
35
37
39
41
43
45
47
49
51
Age of Grantees
53
55
57
59
61
63
65
67
69
71
73
European Research Council
The European Research Council
Submitted proposals
European Research Council
ERC Starting grant calls
2007 - 2012
Submitted proposals by domain
Starting Grant
5000
Physical Sciences and Engineering
9,167
4500
Life Sciences
4406
Social Sciences and Humanities
4000
29% of the StG applications have women PIs
3500
3399
-73%
+16%
3000
4,741
2500
+42%
4,080
2000
2058
+15%
2,873
1500
1000
1653
1440
2,503
1362
1690
1205
1112
1030
927
950
1030
638
500
464
0
Starting Grant 2007
Starting Grant 2007
Starting Grant 2010
Starting Grant 2011
Starting Grant 2012
ER C 2 0 11
│ 13
European Research Council
ERC Advanced grant calls
2008 - 2011
Submitted proposals by domain
Advanced Grant
1500
Physic al Sc iences and Engineering
Life Sc ienc es
14% of the AdG applications have women PIs
Social Sciences and Humanities
1300
+14%
1100
2,284
+27%
2,167
-27%
2,009
997
900
917
902
1,583
700
789
766
736
621
578
500
512
486
404
300
335
100
Advanced Grant 2008
-100
Advanced Grant 2009
Advanc ed Grant 2010
Advanced Grant 2011
E RC 2 0 11
│ 14
European Research Council
The European Research Council
Selected proposals
European Research Council
Success rates
ERC Starting & Advanced grant calls 2007 - 2011
succes rates ERC calls
selected/evaluated proposals (%)
18.0
16.1
15.8
16.0
13.9
14.0
13.8
13.4
AdG
2010
AdG
2011
12.2
12.0
10.2
10.0
8.0
6.0
4.0
3.4
2.0
0.0
StG
2007
StG
2009
StG
2010
StG
StG
2011
AdG
2008
AdG
2009
AdG
European Research Council
ERC grant distribution to countries of HI
ERC Starting & Advanced grant calls 2007 – 2011
600
Advanced Grant
Staring Grant
500
400
2566 projects have been selected, one fifth
corresponding to women PIs.
300
200
100
0
UK DE FR NL CH IT ES IL SE BE AT DK FI HU NO EL IE PT PL CZ CY BG EE IS SI TR
*) Host institution refers to the organisation with which the first grant agreement was signed │ 17
Country
Higher-Education Institution
No
StG
UK University of Cambridge
1
44
European Research
Council
32
76
UK University of Oxford
2
38
34
72
CH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne
3
27
25
52
4
28
17
45
CH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich)
5
14
29
43
UK University College London
6
23
19
42
UK Imperial College
6
22
20
42
IL Weizmann Institute
7
21
18
39
BE University of Leuven
8
19
8
27
UK University of Bristol
9
9
15
24
DE University of Munich
10
8
15
23
NL Leiden University
10
12
11
23
CH University of Zurich
10
10
13
23
UK University of Edinburgh
10
11
12
23
FI University of Helsinki
11
12
9
21
11
13
8
21
12
17
3
20
12
11
9
20
No
StG
AdG
Total
FR National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)
1
86
38
124
DE Max Planck Society
2
33
29
62
FR French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission
3
23
6
29
FR National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm)
4
18
10
28
FR National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automatic Control (INRIA)
5
12
8
20
ES Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
5
14
6
20
IL Hebrew University of Jerusalem
NL University of Amsterdam
IL Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
SE Karolinska Institute
Country
Research Organisation
AdG
Total
Top
European
Institutions
hosting
at least 20
ERC Grantees
by funding
Schemes
StG 2007-2011
AdG 2008-2011
Legal signatories of the
first grant agreement
Data as of 03/05/2012
European Research Council
The European Research Council
International participation
European Research Council
Potential applicants from the whole world!
27
EU-Member States
Associated
Countries
Outside ERA
USA, Canada, Japan, ..etc.
Nationality, current place of work, and age
are not relevant!
Above 140 international
Cooperation partners
(Africa, Asia, Latin-America)
European Research Council
Submitted proposals from researchers
with non-ERA nationality
ERC Starting grant calls 2009 - 2011
8,8%
9%
80
8,2%
Number of applications
70
60
7%
50
6,2%
6,3%
40
5%
2007
30
2009
2010
2011
Starting grant
20
10
0
US
RU
CN
CA
AU
UA
JP
AR
MX
KR
IN
Others
Nationality
Starting 2009
Starting 2010
Starting 2011
ER C 2 0 11
European Research Council
Submitted proposals from researchers
with non-ERA nationality
ERC Advanced grant calls 2008 - 2011
7%
80
6,3%
70
Number of applications
6,0%
60
50
5,4%
5,4%
2008
2009
40
5%
30
2010
2011
Advanced grant
20
10
0
US
RU
CN
CA
AU
UA
JP
AR
MX
KR
IN
Others
Nationality
Advanced 2008
Advanced 2009
Advanced 2010
Advanced 2011
ER C 2 0 11
Submitted proposals
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong
European Research Council
ERC Starting grant calls 2007 - 2012
ERC Advanced grant calls 2008 – 2011
Submitted applications from nationals
Country*
StG calls AdG Calls All ERC calls
Japan
68
11
79
South Korea
31
31
Taiwan
9
9
Hong Kong
3
2
5
Total:
111
13
124
Life Sci
26
11
1
38
Phys&Eng Soc&Hum
46
11
5
2
64
7
9
3
3
22
*) nationality as last declared by the principal investigator
¾ the applications of TW nationals have the host institution in UK (4), Belgium (2),
Spain (1), Finland (1), and Sweden (1).
Submitted applications from researchers resident in the country at the time of application
Country
StG calls AdG Calls All ERC calls
Japan
22
3
25
South Korea
5
1
6
Taiwan
2
2
Hong Kong
2
2
Total:
29
6
35
¾ 2 applicants were resident in Taiwan
at the time of application; 1 is a national
of the country, the other Austrian
European Research Council
ERC grantees with a non-ERA nationality
ERC Starting and Advanced Calls 2007 – 2011
no grantee with TW nationality until now
45
40
Starting
grants
Number of Grantees
35
Advanced
grants
30
TOTAL number of grantees with non-ERA nationality :
101 StG and 57 AdG
25
20
15
10
5
0
USA
A ustralia
Russia
Canada
Japan
India
A rgentina
China
S. Ko rea
Others
Starting
grants
35
13
9
7
8
7
4
4
1
13
A dvanced
grants
40
3
3
5
0
0
0
0
0
6
Nationality
*) nationality as last declared by the principal investigator
European Research Council
Few grantees from outside ERA
Mainly researchers moving/returning from the US
Country of residence
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Canada
Japan
Korea
USA
Total
International grantees
1
1
1
1
1
13
18
ERA nationals
2
1
1
1
51
56
Total
1
3
1
2
2
1
64
74
Note: Researchers residing outside ERA at the time of application
European Research Council
International participation to proposals evaluation
350
321
308
300
Men
Number of assignments*
266
Women
250
200
196
194
150
114
100
50
125
105 101
85 81
77
66 65
55
41 36
44
27 21
9
5
5
5
37
16
4
3
3
6
4
3
15 11
6
5
3
3
3
1
1
1
0
UK DE FR IT ES NL SE BE AT DK FI PL HU CZ PT EL IE RO BG CY SK LT EE SI CH IL NO TR RS HR IS US JP CA AU TW CL HK RU UA AR MX
EU Member States
Associated C.
International
Country of Panel Member's Host Institution
Based on the eight ERC StG and AdG calls 2007 - 2011
* Number of instances that experts of a certain country of origin are contributing to the ERC peer review
│ 26
European Research Council
Attractive features
for researchers from outside Europe
Incentive:
Additional “start-up” funding for scientists moving to Europe
ƒ
(EUR 500 000 for Starting and EUR 1 Million for Advanced grantees)
Flexibility:
Host institution shall be in an EU member state or an FP7
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
Associated Country
Grantee can keep affiliation with home institute outside Europe
(“significant part” of work time in Europe)
Team members can be based outside Europe
Grantee can move within Europe with the grant
Negotiation:
Several European countries/host institutes assist applicants
ƒ
and reward grantees with top-up funds or long-term
professorships
│ 27
European Research Council
Simple and flexible grants
for researchers from outside Europe
Example: use of the flexibility
Coming to Europe doesn’t mean
burning bridges:
• Grantee can keep affiliation with
home institute outside Europe
• Grantee must spend a “significant
part” (min. 50 %) of the work time in
Europe
Global researchers follow
the best science and the best resources
European Research Council
Example
American professor
Michael Lisanti received
an ERC Advanced Grant
(US$ 1.9 Million) in 2010.
Also, Honorary Professor at the
University of Manchester
since 2010.
ERC Project: “CAPER in Invasive Breast Cancer”
He is still professor at the
Thomas Jefferson
University, US.
Attracting excellent researchers worldwide
European Research Council
”ERC goes global” campaign
targeting top and emerging research locations
Canada
Russia
Feb.2012
US South West
& Mexico
2012
2012
Japan, Taiwan,
S.-Korea
China
US East Coast
2013
2012
2013
India
2013
South Africa
Brazil, Argentina, Chile
2012
March 2012
Singapore, Australia,
New Zealand
2013
Prospects for the future
ERC’s role in the Innovation Union 2020
European Research Council
¾ HORIZON 2020 structure:
− Excellence Science
− Industrial leadership
− Societal challenges
− EIT
− JRC
¾ Excellent Science: reinforcing and extending the excellence of the
EU’s science base and consolidating ERA to make EU’s R&I system
more competitive on a global scale
—
—
—
—
European Research Council
Future and Emerging Technologies
Marie Curie
Research Infrastructures
¾ budget proposal for ERC under H2020: 15 billion euro
│ 31
European Research Council
Main communication tools / Multipliers
•
Ideas NCP (National Contact Points)
•
ERC Website
•
Press and media relations
•
Quarterly e-newsletter and e-News Alerts
•
Publications/flyers
•
Audiovisual products
•
Stand and sessions at conferences/congresses
Further information: http://erc.europa.eu